Validating Startup Ideas Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Posted by jldavid on Jan 11, 2013

When coming up with startup ideas,  it’s usually wise to consider what would ultimately motivate a person to use the product you are designing. In 1943, Abraham H. Maslow wrote a paper entitled “A Theory of Human Motivation” and described a pyramid which I’ve found to be a great tool to validate ideas. The lower brain functions (found in the limbic system, cerebellum, and brain stem) are represented in the lower part of the pyramid, and as you climb the pyramid, you start seeing higher brain functions generated by the neo-cortex (accounting for creativity, morality, and so forth).

So how do you apply this theory to startups? The lowest rung of the pyramid accounts for experiences that are common to all human beings (breathing, sleep, food, water, sex). If your product solves problems that are fundamental for human existence,  chances are it will be popular no matter what race or culture you come from. Here is a tangible example – in November 2010, I participated in a Montreal hackathon. I was trying to figure out an idea for a hack – I decided to look at Maslow’s heirachy of needs and chose excretion at the bottom of the pyramid. I wanted to avoid toilet jokes, and rather focus on building a useful tool to help parents find public washrooms for their kids. FlushFinder was born – I won first place in the hackathon, won a Macbook Air and a new job at Yellow Pages Group!

I’ve since used this technique at several hackathons and had many successes. Maslow is especially useful for consumer based apps and products.

Let’s take a look at where popular social networks could potentially fit within the pyramid:

• Facebook – Love/Belonging
• LinkedIn – Safety (Security of employment)
• Foursquare – Esteem (Achievement)
• Twitter – Love/Belonging (friendship)

Try to validate some of your own startup ideas against Maslow’s pyramid. Do they address a common human need? If not, perhaps you should re-evaluate them. Hope this technique is useful!

Creating a Foursquare-style ActionBar on Android using Appcelerator Titanium

Posted by jldavid on Jan 6, 2013

In the past, if you wanted to recreate this interface, you had to do it manually using custom graphics, recreate the tabs & behavior since Titanium didn’t allow you to override & customize the titlebar (like in iOS). With the release of the Titanium 3.0 SDK, developers have finally the ability to use the ActionBar. Unfortunately, the Appcelerator website is a bit thin in terms of implementation code so I thought I would share some with you today. First of all, make sure the manifest in your tiapp.xml (or AndroidManifest.xml) has the uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion=”11″ declaration. Otherwise, it won’t show up (I have mine set to SDKVersion 17 “Jellybean”)

Secondly you need to set up  your tabs for Friends, Explore and Me. The code to do this is easy as pie (the Holo theme will provide the nice blue underline “look and feel”:

Then comes the fun part of customizing the ActionBar. I’ve read many blog posts that recommend that you add an event listener for focus on the TabGroup in order to activate the ActionBar. I’ve had mixed results and recommend using the open event as it’s more robust. Once the ActionBar is instantiated, we clear out the title, replace the application icon with a transparent graphic to make it go away, and replace the default black background with the nice blue gradient background shown above with the Foursquare logo on the left (as is customary in most Android apps).

The final step involves creating an OptionsMenu on the ActionBar. In the example below, we add a white pushpin like the one in the Foursquare interface and add an event listener to start the process of a check-in:

Hope this was informative. Happy coding!

Preserving Android Portrait Orientation with TabGroup using Appcelerator Titanium

Posted by jldavid on Jan 6, 2013

Getting Android to stay in portrait mode (or landscape mode) can be a bit of a challenge. Through trial and error, I discovered that Android will not listen to inline Javascript code (for example, it will ignore win.orientationModes = [Ti.UI.PORTRAIT] when tabs are involved) and modifying your activities in tiapp.xml doesn’t seem to work either. Here is the ultimate trick to lock the orientation down on Android using Appcelerator Titanium:

• Create the following set of folders in the root of your project: yourProject/platform/android
• Build your project. This will generate a new AndroidManifest.xml configuration file.
• Copy the AndroidManifest.xml file found in your build directory (yourProject/build/android/) into the directory you created in step one  (yourProject/platform/android). From now on, when you build your Android project, Titanium will simply copy this file into your build folder (and on your device) as opposed to building a manifest file on the fly.
• Edit the AndroidManifest.xml file found in this directory: yourProject/platform/android
• For each <activity>, make the following modifications:
  • Add the following property: 
    android:screenOrientation="portrait"
  • Modify this property
    android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation"

    to this

    android:configChanges="keyboardHidden"

Rebuild and you are good to go. Another good resource is the official documentation can be found here. Happy coding!

Technology Predictions for 2013

Posted by jldavid on Dec 26, 2012

As the year end is approaching, time to look at the predictions I made in 2012 and post new predictions for 2013 based on the trends I’ve been observing & many news items I’ve been posting on Twitter. Here are the five predictions I made last year:

• IPOs will keep driving interest in startups. Verdict – yes and no. Facebook and Zynga’s IPOs have been rocky at best. This has caused investors to generally be more conservative, invest less in social startups and more in lucrative enterprise startups,  and look for startups that have a clear monetization path. The result – fewer “bubbly”  investments, more emphasis on acquisition rather than the IPO route (it will be interesting to see how the anticipated Twitter IPO will play out).
• Mobile app growth will be exponential. Verdict – yes. Look at the graph on this Business Insider Intelligence deck. Smartphone sales blew past PC sales. Check out the rest of this informative deck – “The Future of Digital”.
• The “Quantified Self” will become more mainstream. Verdict – not yet. The Nike+ FuelBand, Fitbit and Jawbone Up are mainstream, but we are still quite a ways from being able to buy tech clothing in your local Macy’s. Google Project Glass is expected to be available in 2013 – that should hopefully open up a new market for non-smartphone/tablet wearable computing devices.
• 80′s retro tech will be cool. Verdict – yes. Wired posted an interesting article on how older technologies have influenced their modern counterparts.
• More Organic Design. Verdict – yes and no. This year, I learned from Johnny Chauvet that “organic design” is actually called Skeuomorphism. Apple has embraced this design approach (the ultimate example is the stitching/leather look from Apple’s Find My Friends feature). According to IDC, Android has captured 75% market share (which has in part contributed to Apple’s stock price decline). Android has a cleaner, sparser UI – iOS apps like Circle have started emulating this sort of UI (and it’s catching on). Not to mention Microsoft’s Windows 8 non-UI/content first approach (no chrome, no drop shadows, ect).

Here are my new predictions for 2013:

• More single-purpose problem solving apps. Apps like SnapChat and Instagram have several things in common – they use a camera and provide a specific feature (such as adding filters or creating self-destruct messages). Both apps are immensely popular – I predict an onslaught of similar apps that provide novel functionality using the camera and sensors.
• Google will hand out Project Glass devices to attendees at Google IO 2013. This is a rather specific prediction, but I think Google’s engineering process is far enough along to have produced developer ready versions of the device by May 2013. Also expect attendees to receive a phone and tablet with Android’s vNext OS Key Lime Pie. I’m excited about the release of Project Glass because I’m convinced that wearable technologies will supplant devices like smartphones in the long term. Get your credit cards ready when the Google IO tickets go onsale early next year!
• Adaptive apps and devices. The article “Creating An Adaptive System To Enhance UX” published by Smashing Magazine really nails what I’m observing and predicting – apps & devices that sense who you are, where you are, and provides useful contextual information. I created Cardign - an app that uses facial recognition to connect to people and add contacts to your address book. I’ve made a big bet that using faces as QR codes is the most natural way of capturing contacts and has the least amount of friction. Robert Scoble is writing a book called the “Age of Context” that covers many of the themes in my predictions: Sensors, Wearable computing, Big Databases, Social network behavior and Location.
• Smaller, flexible devices. Samsung is working on a flexible phone that will be shown off at CES 2013. Nokia has also been working on a HumanForm prototype, which features tactile touch displays. I predict (perhaps not in 2013, but soon) we will have flexible displays all over the home. You will wallpaper your house with “SmartPaper” which will provide the ability to customize the appearance of your living space (for example, you will be able to change the color of your walls based on your mood or based on the person in the room). These flexible displays around the home will also make televisions obsolete.
• 3D printing goes mainstream. The existing 3D printer patents are close to expiring & companies such as MakerBot have developed the Replicator device you can buy right out of their NYC walk-in retail store for $1750. The interesting thing to look out for is possible legislation controlling 3D models of guns & other potentially illegal paraphenalia.
• Internet of things also goes mainstream. Apple is currently selling Philips Hue light bulbs that you can control with your iPhone or iPad. I predict more and more smart devices (witness the Internet of toasters). More to come.

Bonus prediction:

• Humongous (& real-time) data: We are currently able to create repositories that can collect & correlate billions of records. Facebook has an incredible throughput, sharing and posting billions of activities per day. What’s next for Big Data? Humongous data – business intelligence benefiting from the analysis of trillions of bits of data across various big data sources. Another important facet is the ability to correlate data in real-time across disparate data sources. Thanks to Mithun Dhar for the shout out! 

The Five Reasons To Get Acquired

Posted by jldavid on Dec 21, 2012

There are five reasons an investor might be interested in acquiring your company:

1. Platform Fit: You built a solution that matches the needs of a larger company. A good example of this is eBay’s acquisition of Hunch –  the machine learning, data mining and predictive modeling capabilities of Hunch gives eBay the ability to provide their customers with recommendations much like Amazon and Netflix. Another example is Apple’s acquisition of Chomp to “improve” the iOS 6 App Store.
2. Patents & IP: Sometimes you develop a novel solution to a problem. For example, at the time Apple was patenting a lot of hand gestures on their tablet UI, Google acquired Toronto based company BumpTop for the unique gestures they created for the platform (my guess is to incorporate them into Android & other devices)
3. Talent: Sometimes, it’s just about the talent in the room. Example – Y Combinator will accept applications from individuals without an idea. A famous example of  an “acq-hire” is Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram. Facebook is especially keen on picking up companies based on talent.
4. The App: Sometimes you see an app picked up by a large company, then rebranded. A good example is Facebook acquiring Beluga and rebranding it to Facebook Messenger.
5. Traction: Sometimes, an acquisition is based on the success you’ve had in the market & your customer base. An example of this is Zynga’s acquisition of OMGPop’s & Draw Something.

The one thing to keep in mind is that it may not be a single factor, rather multiple factors that come into play in the acquisition. The more you can offer as an acquisition target, the more likely you’ll get picked up.

The Absolute Worst Way To Do Customer Retention

Posted by jldavid on Oct 27, 2012

I just checked out Qello today - a service based in NYC that provides music videos and concerts on demand, very similar to Netflix. I signed up for an account and found out that the service cost $4.95 per month. The content wasn’t compelling enough to convert me as a customer, so I decided to unsubscribe to the mailing list. I was quite surprised to get the following message:

I can’t believe you want to unsubscribe…

So you don’t want my emails. Okay. Whatever.
But how are you going to know when I post cool new shows?
And when I come across a great documentary on your favorite band,
how will I tell you about it? New Features? You’ll have no idea…
But fine, have it your way.
Just know, you’re breaking my heart.
I’m so depressed, I think I’ll write a song.

Once I unsubscribed, I got the following message:

You will not hear from me again

Is this really the way you would want to treat a customer, or be treated yourself? The emotional tone of the messaging is at the maturity level of a petulant depressed high school student. The “you will not hear from me again” message is prescient because it is unlikely that I’ll be checking out Qello in the near future.

If you are creating a startup and hope to keep your customers, don’t treat them this way. With all the choices available out there, you should cherish every single customer that decides to use your service. If they decide to leave your mailing list, tell them you are sorry to see them go but you hope they come back soon – heck, give them incentives to come back!

Prometheus Explained

Posted by jldavid on Oct 21, 2012

I’ve been reading a lot of random comments about the movie Prometheus, and I’m amazed that a lot of people missed the whole subtext of the engineers plot line. If you look at the elements at face value – jars of black goo, engineers that create then turn on humans, aliens, might seem hard to follow. But if you look at that story line in context of a literal retelling of Hesiod’s Pandora myth, then everything makes sense:

• The engineer at the beginning of the movie represents the god Prometheus, who created Man from clay (rather DNA in the movie). In the movie, the engineers are initially seen as force that enlightens the human race, leaving hints of their origins on the four corners of the globe.
• Update: Ridley says in this press conference that technology represents the fire that has been handed down to humans by Prometheus.
• Zeus was angered by Prometheus’ actions – this is represented in the movie as the engineer that is awakened only to attacks Weyland & his crew. The engineer attempts to travel to Earth to deliver Pandora.
• In Heisod’s poem, Zeus sends Pandora to Earth with a jar (or pithos) filled with “evils, harsh pain and troublesome diseases which give men death”. The jars in the alien ship are a literal depiction of Pandora’s jar, with the black goo representing evil just like in the classic Greek myth.
• The Xenomorphs represent Pandora – Heisod describes Pandora as “a beautiful evil whose descendants would torment the race of men” Some of the strongest symbols representing femininity (like Pandora) are fertility & birth. Xenomorphs inseminate and are “born” from human hosts.

So while the crew of the Prometheus is going through relatable human-level drama, there is a whole secondary plot occurring with the engineers playing the role of Greek gods acting out the Prometheus myth on the human race. Well played Mr Scott, well played.